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Google Reportedly Launching Chrome Ad Blocker

Rhett PardonJun 1, 2017 3:19 PM PDT

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Google plans on introducing a new ad-blocking tool in its Chrome web browser next year that will filter out certain ad types deemed to provide bad experiences for users, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.

The new setting is expected to be switched on by default within the desktop and mobile versions of Chrome, which dominates the browser market with about 60 percent share across both platforms.

The Wall Street Journal said that unacceptable ad types include those identified by the Coalition for Better Ads, an industry group made up of members from Google, Procter & Gamble, Unilever, GroupM, Facebook, Thomson Reuters, The Washington Post, the Interactive Advertising Bureau and the Association of National Advertisers.

The group’s initial list of unacceptable ad types include pop-ups, auto-playing video ads with sound and “prestitial” ads that count down before displaying content.

Google’s new feature, which is described as an advertising “filter” as opposed to a “blocker,” will block all ads on sites that have a certain level of unacceptable ads, the Wall Street Journal wrote.

Offering help in advance of the implementation of the new feature, Google has prepared a self-service tool called “Ad Experience Reports,” which will alert publishers to offending ads on their sites and explain how to fix the issues.

Google also is pitching publishers on a new tool it is calling “Funding Choices,” where it will give publishers the option to force a choice on users running their own ad blocking software — whitelist the site so its non-annoying ads can display or pay a small fee to access the content ad-free.